FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BIRD

The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to rehear Thursday the application for Sunset Ridge Park, a proposed Newport Beach city sports field. The hearing will be a showdown between city attorneys and commission staff members, who have repeatedly rejected the park. Planned for the bluff above West Coast Highway and Superior Avenue, the park would add needed playing space for the west side of town. But some commissioners and their staff have flagged the park's impact on protected bird habitat.

I found a sick red-tailed hawk March 16 below a tall eucalyptus in the Bonita Canyon reservoir area of the Irvine Ranch Water District land. The bird was alert but unable to move, and I was able to capture it with the guidance of the Newport Beach Animal Control unit. I placed the raptor in a box in my garage and kept it warm and quiet until they picked up the hawk Saturday morning. The raptor survived the night and was taken to the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, which then stabilized the bird, treated it for poison and sent it to the South Bay Wildlife Rehab in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Newport Beach city officials withdrew their Sunset Ridge Park application from the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday, after commissioners signaled they wouldn't approve its controversial access road. The nearly five-hour hearing in Oceanside left many wondering if the park would be built anytime soon. The city's application became entangled with larger environmental concerns about the proposed neighboring Banning Ranch development. As commissioners raised objections to encroaching on protected bird habitat and potentially illegal brush clearance, they also provided a glimpse into the fraught path ahead for the ranch's developers.

Consider this the Southern California version of a cat-in-a-tree rescue. About 300 people gathered at the Newport Pier on Sunday to watch firefighters remove a seagull from a palm tree after it got caught in string, said Fire Department spokeswoman Jennifer Schulz. Firefighters were called to the pier about 6:26 p.m. after the seagull was seen dangling from its feet about 20 feet above the ground, according to a Fire Department news release. "[The onlookers] were very concerned for the bird's safety," said Capt.

NEWPORT BEACH — A city project to control erosion along Lower Buck Gully will also restore the area's natural landscape and remove threatening birds that lay eggs in other birds' nests, according to a California Coastal Commission staff report. The staff recommends approval of the project, which will be discussed at the Wednesday's Coastal Commission meeting. The project involves placing wire-mesh baskets filled with river rock in the lower part of Buck Gully and installing rock structures in the upper bend of the creek.

Editor's note: This adds the fifth through seventh paragraphs. BALBOA ISLAND — The street was empty Tuesday as James Palmer went back to the last place where his 6-year-old daughter's pet bird was seen. Walking down a sunny Garnet Avenue toward South Bay Front just before noon, Palmer pointed to different trees that Banana Split — a bright, ice blue-colored Pacific parrotlet — liked to frequent. During the stroll, he also signaled toward neighbors' houses the tiny bird enjoyed visiting.

NEWPORT BEACH — Residents in Newport Heights worry that a tree-trimming program threatens species of protected birds that nest there during the spring mating season. Some Clay Street homeowners are questioning the city's trimming of about 15 ficus trees that line the street, saying that birds have built active nests among those branches and limbs. Department Director of Municipal Operations Mike Pisani said city contractors check the trees before trimming and leave those with active nests alone.

The 2011 OC Marathon course will not use Back Bay Drive in order to protect endangered birds that live there, a race spokesman said Tuesday. Marathon organizers have eliminated the road that hugs the eastern shore of Upper Newport Bay in response to concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Fish and Game about the welfare of endangered species of birds that inhabit the area. These include the light-footed clapper rail and the California gnatcatcher. "There were concerns that introducing 10,000 or 12,000 people into the environment would not be a good thing for the birds," said Race Director Gary Kutscher.

Soccer moms, it seems, are so last decade. The latest fashion in parenting is animal moms. The trend is being fueled largely by the book that has everyone talking, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. " And by "everyone," I mean other moms, as well as TV talk-show hosts, media pundits and late-night comics. The new memoir, by Yale professor Amy Chua, chronicles the author's efforts to give her two daughters what she considers a traditional, ultra-strict Chinese upbringing aimed at producing successful kids.

Editor's note: Veteran Newport Beach real estate executive Tom Iovenitti, who used to pen a column for View magazine, has agreed to contribute columns to the Coastal Real Estate section. This is his first. Remember me? I'm still around, still actively engaged in real estate, still snooping around the streets of coastal Orange County, investing, partnering and talking to those who call or e-mail. It's great to be back in print creating interesting and area-specific articles about real estate, agency, economics, projections, optimism, disappointments and failures.